Committee of the Peoples Charter (CPC) is a non-partisan political, economic, social and democratic accountability movement founded in 2011 in pursuit of the realization of the societal objectives enunciated by the Zimbabwe People’s Charter adopted at the Peoples Convention on 9 February 2008 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Friday, 18 April 2014

NOTES ON THIRTY-FOUR YEARS OF ZIMBABWE’S INDEPENDENCE TOWARD A SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FUTURE

18
April 2014

By Takura Zhangazha Considerations on Zimbabwe’s independence rarely acknowledge
the significant role the success of the liberation struggle owed to Socialism/Marxism.
Both as an ideological premise as well as a pragmatic tool of linking ideals
with the harsh realities of waging a protracted people’s war. Its
key contribution was the accentuation of a critical national consciousness. As
the liberation war expanded, so did structural analysis of the state that was
being supplanted as well as its envisioned replacement.

While the same ideological pretext was never organically
intertwined within our political culture or structures of the state, analyzing Zimbabwe’s
34 years of independence would take a much more serious perspective if the one
time ubiquitous ‘base and superstructure’ Marxian analysis were to be applied
in the contemporary.

Because the base and superstructure theory relates largely to
an understanding that every society has a foundation upon which all else is structured,
in these mid 30s years of Zimbabwe’s existence, it would be trite to borrow
this specific assumption on the basis of the departure point that was 1980.

It was one characterized by a base that was the settler state’s
racist and intrinsically capitalist economic mode of production.

Granted, no departure is clean cut. Previous journeys always inform
the next one. In our country’s case, as has been ably demonstrated both by politicians
(of all hues, socialists, capitalists, communists) we realized the harsh
reality that we could not shake off the structure of the colonial state.

Not only because the Lancaster House ceasefire agreement had
an 8 year moratorium on changing settler state land ownership patterns or the
electoral system. But also because,
while the liberation struggle was both painful and historic, its victory was
not going to be succeeded by utopia.

But the political ‘base’
had been established by way of its intentions, its execution and the popular expectations
of the majority of Zimbabweans.

What was however to become more urgent was to construct a
political-economic superstructure that would succeed that of the Rhodesian
settler state. In building this
different and democratic superstructure to the base that was independence, the
ruling party made the political mistake of not being visionary enough. Or
alternatively, failed to adequately and democratically plan for what was
coming. It emphasized more the political
than the holistic basis of Zimbabwe’s independence. This holistic basis would
have entailed organic linkages between the politics, the mainstream economy and
the sociology of Zimbabwe.

What we have had, as we have progressed to the 34 years that
we now commemorate, is a country that has forgotten its base and reinvented a superstructure
that feeds an elitist and corrupt political economy.

One that does not ask if the people have access to basic
socio-economic rights (water, health, education, transport, housing). And with a political leadership that lives in
the moment. By doing so, it has
forgotten the base and subverted the superstructure. Its singular consistency
has been the popular but inorganic mandate of reminding the masses of the
historicity of independence without marrying it to the contemporary.

And this is where young Zimbabweans are beginning to ask
questions. They no longer understand the
pragmatic and contemporary meaning of
the historical ‘base’ (aka independence) let alone the superstructure that is
the existent political economy. Neither do the necessarily want to. In fact they do not have to because the
relevance of the same is lost on them.

Probably because contemporary national leaders exhibit such a
profound ignorance of ‘base and superstructure’
they do not see any specific hope of pursuing as revolutionary a path as
that of their forebears. Not that it’s necessary by way of action. But a similar
consciousness would help. And seriously so.

So as we celebrate 34 years of independence, while listening
to readings of President Mugabe’s speech and all opposing leaders counter speeches, we will remain
burdened with the fact that we have lost sight of the ‘base’ and are in danger of
foregoing a social democratic superstructure.

As a result the Zimbabwean state, at 34, is in limbo. It makes sacrosanct reference to its past,
but does not hold its future in awe. It functions without collective national
vision nor a leadership that understands the imperatives of functioning for
posterity. Instead they function largely
as each day comes. If they make mistakes, they revert to the assumed sanctity
of the liberation or even post independence democratic struggles. They invoke memory more than they evoke
passion for the future.

In order to counter such a retrogressive national leadership,
the question is no longer the Leninist ‘what is to be done’. Instead it must
be, ‘what is to be understood’ before taking action.

Where we understand, in considerations of the way forward
that national independence was intended to be holistic, we begin to discern
patterns of what should be a social democratic future. Indeed there were urgent matters such as universal
suffrage, land redistribution at the onset of independence. The broader
framework was always for socio-economic justice, economic prosperity and continually
democratic leadership. This with an
understanding that politics cannot happen without the economy and the latter
cannot happen without the former. Instead, the two have functioned almost by default
as has been the case since 1980.

What is therefore required are no longer abstract five year
development programmes such as the much lauded but inorganic ZimAsset.

Instead we must look at the structures that have made
Zimbabwe a state that is running away from the immediate and future needs of
its people. These structures relate not
only to what we carried over from the Rhodesian state but that which was
constructed with the greater intention of
retaining power. While at the same time
seeking to keep the madding masses at bay.

To change this sort of politics and elitist approach to the
economy, we must bring the present government to account. Not just by way of
its current policies but with direct reference to the ‘base’ that was independence
and the ideals that currently inform our superstructure. And this will begin
with re-emphasizing the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter.

Zimbabwe @34: Regrouping for a
People Driven Way Forward

By Blessing Vava

Zimbabwe turns 34 month with its President,
Robert Mugabe making history as the
Africa’s oldest Head of State at 90 years of age. The generation of Mugabe,
Chitepo, Tongogara, Nkomo and all those who participated in the struggle for
independence must be honoured and saluted for the selfless sacrifices they made
to liberate Zimbabwe.

The coming of independence was a
joyous moment for all the citizens, who for a long time had been subjected to a
racist colonial regime that denied the black people political and economic
freedom. With the struggle of liberation have been long and protracted, the
pulling down of the Union Jack at Rufaro Stadium in April 1980 marked the
beginning of a new stage to the revolution
to full freedom for the people of Zimbabwe.

The reasons why Zimbabwe went to war
are quite important for us to understand the concept of national liberation. The
national liberation of the people entailed the destruction of political and
economic domination of the racist supremacists Rhodesians. The questions we ask
today are- was our liberation struggle about removing the white man? Or it was
about addressing the political and economic system for the benefit of the
majority.

Our revolutionary task after
independence was for us to strive to achieve those goals for the benefit of the
citizens of this country. For years after independence Zimbabwe adopted a
transitional constitution negotiated in Lancaster England. It is that
constitution that guided Zimbabwe’s political and economic trajectory until
2013, with the first amendments in 1987 together with 19 other amendments that
followed.

The Lancaster House document guided
Zimbabwe to its first democratic elections which were won by President Mugabe’s ZANU PF and he became the country’s premier, with the late Reverend Canaan
Banana, assuming a ceremonial presidency. The Zvobgo amendments abolished the
post of Prime Minister and created an executive presidency with Mugabe assuming
office as the ultimate leader of the Southern African country. Already
this step in itself was a clear negation of the values and principles of the
liberation struggle. This marked the first step in reversing those gains. The
constitution in itself should protect its citizens from absolute rulers

Ironically, the late Edison Zvogbo,
the then Minister of Legal Affairs master-minded the amendment to Executive
Presidency. However the shortcomings of
our national constitution was its hollowness in addressing the term limits for
a president of the country, and it is this gap that Mugabe later abused to stay
in power. It also failed to adequately address social, economic rights. With unlimited
term limits and excessive power at his disposal, Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe
since 1980. And I argue that Zimbabwe’s problems emanated from the
constitutional order that allowed one man rule and not majority rule. Suffice
to say, aided by the executive powers, the state security apparatus have been
Mugabe’s trump card for the past thirty four years.

As we reflect 34 years down the line, Zimbabwe
now boasts itself for having finally authoring its own constitution, which
however was controversially sponsored by the inclusive government. The
liberation struggle was about freedom, it was about democracy, it was about
land, the national economy. The
struggles for a people driven constitution of by the constitutional movement in
the late 90s were a fulfillment of the goals of the liberation struggle and
total independence, not of a few black elites by the majority of Zimbabweans.

Despite
Mugabe’s attempts to cheat us into accepting a flawed constitution in 2000, the
pro-democratic forces armed with the National Working Peoples Convention
resolutions mobilized Zimbabweans into rejecting that constitution in the
referendum. However the rejection of the Chidyausiku document meant that we
were back to square one and again the constitutional debate escalated to the
extent that ZANU PF could not ignore anymore. Even during the negotiations that
led to the crafting of the GPA, the issue of the constitution was topical and a
whole section of that agreement was crafted as a result.

Alternatively, the civil society had
gathered earlier that year in February 2008 just a month before the harmonized
elections to come up with Zimbabwe Peoples Charter which outlined a framework
writing a new constitution in its Section 3.

To address the challenges affecting
our country I pose to the young generation to embrace the people’s charter. The
historic programme which has evolved to express the common immediate
aspirations of all the classes of the oppressed people is the Peoples Charter.
This document is in itself, a programme for social democracy as it can provide
a basis for uninterrupted advance to a social democratic future.

Moving forward, we must accept the
mistakes of the past generations and put it to ourselves to address that. The GNU
promised us about the so-called incremental gains have actually turned out to
be a decrement. The thirty four years of independence should be equated on the
basis of the state of progression of the laws that govern us, the political
will and the success of our economy. The framework is brilliantly captured in
the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter. The fulfillment of the charter will be the
completion of the revolution towards a social democratic state. It is no longer
a doubt that the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter aspires to fulfill and safeguard the
values, principles and gains of the liberation struggle and our national
independence. To achieve that we need not just political statements, neither do
we need cult leaders to safeguard the values of the liberation struggle and our
national independence. It now requires fortitude, selflessness and discipline,
a clear programme of mass mobilization action in the fight for total freedom
from the ZANU PF regime.

Our generation should lead a guided
struggle which like the Freedom Charter
in South Africa and adhere to those guiding principles so that we do not end up personalizing the peoples struggle like what happened with ZANU PF and what is
currently happening in the MDC. Internal democracies or peoples struggles should
be challenged based on a set of principles which have to be agreed upon by the
people. Our generation should move towards fulfilling the Peoples Charter and the
National Working Peoples Convention. Going forward there is need to regroup and
merge the Peoples convention and peoples charter to come up with a framework to
guide our generational struggle- create a social
democratic movement of young energetic people to fulfil its provisions and
principles.

Zimbabwe@34:
The “Nervous Condition” of the Youth

By David Chidende18 April is a memorable day in
Zimbabwe’s history as the country celebrates its independence from white colonial
rule. The day represents the beginning of a new nation born from the womb of
oppression and race-based politics of exclusion. The journey to Uhuru wasn’t an easy walk as it
was characterized by a protracted armed struggle in which sons and daughters
fell, homes were destroyed and livestock stolen in the quest to address the
wide inequalities in national wealth distribution, address the land question
and attain majority rule.

And so the dawn of independence in
1980, after almost a century of oppression and exploitation, was greeted with
an electrifying atmosphere of hope from the black majority who vested trust in
the new black political leadership to fulfill the aspirations of the liberation
struggle.

However, it is sad to note that after
34 years of independence the Zimbabwean citizens have not yet progressed on the
independence value chain. The people are still facing the same problems they
faced under the Rhodesia Front as the Zanu PF government and leadership
diverted from the original agenda of the liberation struggle. Politics of greed
takes toll with those in the echelons of power feasting on the national cake,
distributing wealth amongst themselves whilst the masses starve.

In this entire ‘jinx’ young people
and women struggle to understand the importance of independence especially when
a small clique hijacked state power and controls the means of production. The
government has turned a blind eye on its citizens as it failed to address the
issue of unemployment, which has seen many youths flooding the streets due to the
shrinking job market as industries close down almost every day.

This, coupled with poor
infrastructure development, high cases of corruption (especially in
government’s parastatals) poor health services in almost all government
hospitals, deteriorating educational standards and poor sanitation (lack of
clean water) resulted in rampant outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as
cholera and typhoid which further darkens the gloomy picture of an independent Zimbabwe.

Young people bleeds as the country
celebrates 34 years of independence. They are not given the opportunity to enjoy
the fruits of their fathers’ sweat and blood that brought about this
independence. Fundamentally, the youths
have not been guaranteed the right to education as the State fails to fulfil
its promises on providing free basic education from primary to tertiary level.

The government has failed to release
the cadetship fund through the Ministry of Finance to help university students
resulting in approximately 45% of students dropping out of tertiary
institutions while a further more than 50% fail to enrol at any college.

The same extends to primary and
secondary levels where many children are failing to go to school because the
State has failed to build more schools while the few that are available are
charging fees which are far beyond the affordability of many parents. This is in total violation of Article 7(i) of
The Zimbabwe People’s Charter which states that the youth shall be guaranteed
the right to education at all levels until they acquire their first tertiary
qualification.

After thirty four years of
independence, the state of youths still remains a “nervous condition” even in
decision making processes where they are barricaded outside and denied space to
make decisions especially in political parties due to the current leadership’s
quest to stay in power forever.

This is done through denying the
youth political independence in any political setup despite their political
consciousness and to this end; main wings of political parties in across Africa
have created ‘dumb and mute’ Youth Leagues and Assemblies to subjugate the
youth voice the idea being to cripple
the political consciousness of youths making the League/Assemblies more
or less of political robots, rubber stamping and embracing bad leadership at
all levels as decision are always made by the main wing.

Politicians have a tendency of
undermining the value of young people in national development and they don’t
see them as leadership material but tools for counter-productive activities
such as violence in which they feature most as both perpetrators and victims.

Unemployment, poverty and other
social stresses have dis-empowered the youths, making them more susceptible to
manipulation by the political leadership who for 34 years gobbled the wealth of
this country. And as we celebrate independence, young people across all political
divides must start being proactive and take charge in their communities,
political parties and even churches.

They must regroup and strategise to
form a formidable social movement, try to engage people in their small groupings
about the social ills bedeviling our country as a way of fighting against the personalization of the country, and resources by a few individuals. They must
tell the political leadership that they deserve much better not scrambling for
a few crumbs that fall from their tables.

Zimbabwe
@34: A country of Old Men

By Prince Tongogara

Zimbabwe
marked 34 years of independence from the colonial British regime this Easter
holiday. And after gaining its
independence and tomorrow’s celebrations take one back to the old adage – the
more the things change, the more they remain the same.

For
the 34th time, President Robert Mugabe will give a keynote address. The
emphasis in his speeches could vary as they have over the years but to a
discerning audience – his theme has largely remained the same archaic one –
Zimbabwe shall never be a colony again.

Mugabe
has become Zimbabwe. He has straddled over the nation’s history for close to
two generations since he assumed the mantle to lead the liberation struggle in
Mozambique. Since then, his legacy is synonymous with Zimbabwe’s triumphs and
losses. He has seen it all but forgot to leave the stage to give a new impetus
to new politics and new visions.

For
34 years the country has remained steeped in the war mode, trying to solve our
problems as if we are still in 1980 when the world was still bipolar – cleanly
divided between the East and West. In that time warp, the Zanu PF government
continues to fiddle while the economy regresses and a whole generation has
never known any other leader beside Mugabe. This is a whole generation that has
been locked out of the political discussions and decision-making as they wait
for the older generation to exit the stage.

After
the chaotic land reform and economic empowerment programmes, the majority still
remain outside the mainstream economic activities while a small, new black
elite – the noveau rich – has developed in a fashion that replicates the
colonial era.

The
big liberation struggle questions still remain unanswered. Can Zimbabwe take a
new socio-economic trajectory? Is Zanu PF ready for leadership renewal as
opposed to succession? (Succession is simply taking over without making
significant structural changes while renewal is having a new distinct
structurally different leadership with a defined new vision and economic model
for the country.)

Mugabe
and his government over the years have remained on the same political-economic paradigm
despite that their claimed ally China renews its leadership every decade. This
renewal has given China a new economic impetus and a positive international
relations compass.

It
remains a moot case that Mugabe, one way or the other despite his liberation
credentials,social programmes and pan-Africanism, has failed in this one great
respect – to lay a foundation or even encourage leadership renewal.

It is
unfortunate that that this same weakness has become pervasive in Zimbabwe – in
opposition politics and even in private enterprises. There has been no
significant change in the political leadership and company boardrooms for the
past 20 years.

One
can safely conclude, as we celebrate the 34th anniversary of our
independence, that Zimbabwe has been caught in a time warp, living in its own
bubble that sooner or later will burst with devastating effects for the
country. Renewal could be a new word in our politics, economics and social
lives or soon it becomes a country of Old men and women.